Congressional Democrats have launched an early campaign to unseat Rep. Gary Miller in 2008, unleashing a series of ads focusing on questionable land deals made by the congressman that are now part of a federal investigation.

One ad, which is posted on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Web site, www.dccc.org, and on the video site Youtube.com, includes video of a 2000 Monrovia City Council meeting in which Miller, R-Brea, pleads with the city to buy land he later said was sold under threat of eminent domain.

The piece, which is set to the tune of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Taking Care of Business,” features text in bold red letters stating that Miller avoided paying taxes by claiming the city forced him to sell the land.

The statements are juxtaposed against footage of the congressman repeatedly asking the City Council to buy his property.

Miller used IRS Code 1033, which allows individuals to shelter proceeds from a forced sale, to avoid paying millions of dollars in capital gains tax after he sold the land to the city in 2002.

Federal agents have since obtained the 2000 council video from Monrovia officials as part of their investigation into the congressman’s land dealings.

Miller’s spokesman, Scott Toussaint, dismissed the ad as a cheap political stunt and said the congressman is unconcerned about the Democrats’ early efforts against him.

“It is heavily edited and is taken entirely out of context,” Toussaint said of the video. “Mr. Miller knows he has done an outstanding job of representing his district, concentrating on immigration, housing, water quality, issues that really matter to Southern Californians, as opposed to a badly produced Youtube video.”

Miller has served the 42nd District in Congress since 1998, and Toussaint said he plans to run again in 2008.

Congressional Democrats made gains in the 2006 midterm elections by linking Republicans to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and accusing the GOP leadership of condoning a “culture of corruption” in its ranks.

The attacks against Miller appear to be an attempt to continue that strategy into 2008. The ads have been accompanied by a steady stream of press releases criticizing Miller’s congressional votes on a range of issues, from the war in Iraq to student financial aid.

In another of its ads, the DCCC prepared a matrix comparing Miller’s defense against allegations he misused tax law to the defense of former Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney, who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Abramoff. Ney is serving a 30-month sentence in federal prison.

DCCC officials said Miller is vulnerable, citing the federal investigation and his vote totals in 2006, when he ran unopposed, as evidence that they can win the heavily Republican 42nd Congressional District. Miller got about 130,000 votes last November, in a district with about 347,000 registered voters.

“We are actively recruiting to have someone run against Miller” in 2008, said Fernando Cuevas, western regional press secretary for the DCCC, adding that John Kerry got more than 40 percent of the vote in the 42nd in 2004. He declined to say how much the committee has spent on the ads, which have only run on the Internet.

Cuevas said it was too early to name any potential Democratic candidates in the 42nd, where Republicans make up about 50 percent of registered voters versus the Democrats’ 29 percent, according to the California Secretary of State’s Web site.

Cuevas said the DCCC is not naive about the numbers, but noted that last year’s elections were evidence of a change in the political landscape that can benefit the Democrats.

“The 2006 election showed that Democrats can win Republican districts that are represented by members plagued with ethics problems,” he said. “Gary Miller certainly fits that bill – the FBI is investigating him.”

The FBI has made inquiries into Miller’s land deals, asking former and current city officials in Monrovia and Fontana about the circumstances surrounding the transactions. A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a formal complaint with the IRS alleging Miller evaded paying his taxes.

Miller has denounced the allegations as nothing more than a smear campaign orchestrated by Democrats and perpetuated by an irresponsible media.

Allan Hoffenblum, co-publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book, said the early effort from Democrats amounts to little more than “political harassment,” considering the electoral makeup of Miller’s district.

As an example, Hoffenblum said Republican long-shot Republican Richard Mountjoy beat Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein by 11 points in the 42nd. By contrast, Feinstein won the statewide vote by 24 points.

“They are wasting their time,” Hoffenblum said. “The only way \ going to beat Miller is if he has handcuffs behind his back and is being taken to the federal pen, which I don’t think is very likely.”

Miller’s district crosses three county lines and includes the cities of Diamond Bar, Brea, Whittier, Anaheim, Mission Viejo and Chino Hills.

The ads, the latest of which come a full 20 months before the Nov. 2008 election, are emblematic of the early campaigning seen across the country, particularly in the 2008 presidential race.

Hoffenblum said Republicans are making a similarly early run at Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton. In that case, however, Hoffenblum said Republicans have a decent chance at knocking off the incumbent.

Such early campaigning is unprecedented, but not surprising in the era of cheap and instant Internet communications, said Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.

“In the old days – which was five years ago or so – you had to spend real money to put ads on the air,” Pitney said. “Now, you can produce an ad very cheaply and get it on the Internet for practically nothing. It is another example of how advances of technology are changing the character of campaigning.”

Pitney said he does not remember parties running ads this early in the election cycle.

“To run TV ads at this point would have been considered insane,” he said. “We are still shredding the \ signs of the ’06 election.”